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Posted by TRENTON BUREAU on June 24, 2004 at 21:54:48:

A former top aide and political adviser to Governor McGreevey was charged with stock fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, in a suit claiming that he earned nearly $250,000 from tips about impending corporate acquisitions.

Gary Taffet, McGreevey's former chief of staff, was also referred to as a "co-conspirator" in a parallel U.S. Justice Department criminal case against a business associate who allegedly tipped him to stocks.

The associate, Ronald A. Manzo, who is the brother of state Assemblyman Louis Manzo, a Hudson County Democrat, pleaded guilty to criminal insider trading and perjury charges in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday.

At the heart of the civil charges is the SEC's claim that Taffet's friendship and insurance business relationship with Manzo played a central role in the stock fraud.

"Manzo knew that Taffet ... as a person with strong political ties to New Jersey, was in a position to assist his company ... in obtaining insurance business from local government entities in New Jersey," the SEC civil suit charged.

The lawsuit also claims that Taffet passed on insider stock tips to five unnamed people, who later made more than $280,000 from securities trades. State Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Roberts, a Democrat from Camden County, released a statement Wednesday confirming that he had cooperated with the SEC and had provided information about securities that he had purchased.

Roberts said in a statement that he had nothing to hide.

"Over one year ago, the SEC asked me to provide information about securities I had previously purchased" he said. "I fully complied and provided information and voluntarily answered all questions in an effort to be as helpful as possible. There has never been a suggestion that I did anything inappropriate because quite simply I did not."

McGreevey said little about his former chief of staff when asked about the complaint.

"I would just note that I have no knowledge," the governor told reporters after signing a package of ethics reform measures at his official residence in Princeton.

Asked if he knew who had allegedly gotten tips from Taffet, McGreevey said, "No. I have no knowledge."

Taffet has not been charged with any crimes related to the stock trades. However, the SEC civil suit increases the federal pressure on Taffet at a time when the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark is probing a billboard business he ran with Paul Levinsohn, another former key McGreevey aide.

The New Jersey prosecutors have been investigating whether Taffet and Levinsohn improperly used political connections to bring business to their billboard firm before McGreevey was sworn in as governor in January 2002. Both have denied wrongdoing in the matter.

And last month, a Camden County businessman and Democratic Party donor who had other business dealings with Taffet pleaded guilty to federal charges, and was identified as wearing a concealed recording device or "wire" in an FBI probe.

Taffet's lawyer, John B. Harris, said in a statement that his client denies having done anything wrong in relation to the stock trades.

"The reality is that Mr. Taffet did not know or deal with any insider at the companies he traded, nor did he knowingly disclose non-public information to any third party," the statement said. As the case unfolds and the allegations in the civil complaint are tested, we believe the legal and factual underpinnings of the SEC's case against Mr. Taffet will be found to be paper-thin."

Wednesday's SEC civil filing in a Manhattan federal court claims Taffet cashed in six times on large stock transactions immediately after news of impending corporate acquisitions became public.

The tips came from Manzo, who ran a business that sold insurance to New Jersey municipalities, the lawsuit said. The SEC said Manzo made almost $1 million in insider profits.

Manzo, 60, of Bayonne, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday to criminal insider trading and perjury charges. Manzo admitted that he lied to the SEC in a January 2003 interview when asked to whom he had passed stock tips.

Manzo, and his company, RAM Insurance Agency, made $200,600 in contributions to mostly Democratic candidates and committees between 1997 and 2003, according to state Election Law Enforcement Commission records. Manzo and his companies also gave more than $18,000 to federal candidates between 1996 and 2004, federal election records show. Most of the contributions went to Democrats, but he also gave to several Republicans.

In 1998 and 1999, Taffet used Manzo's inside information to buy stock in four companies that were on the verge of mergers or acquisitions that had yet to be announced, the suit alleges. When the mergers became public, the companies' stock prices went up and Taffet made more than $247,459, the complaint says.

For example, Taffet bought stock in the television ratings company Nielsen Media Research before the Dutch information and media company VNU, represented by Skadden Arps, announced its purchase of Nielsen in August 1999, according to the complaint. It says he also bought stock in the insurance company Orion Capital Corp., which was also represented by Skadden Arps, before the announcement of its acquisition by the British firm Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group. Taffet allegedly made more than $100,000 from his stock in each of those companies.

The complaint says Taffet's tipster, Manzo, got his information from "his close friend" Fiore J. Gallucci, a Staten Island bond salesman. Gallucci's wife was working as a secretary for the head of mergers and acquisitions at Skadden Arps, a prominent Manhattan law firm.

The complaint says Gallucci persuaded his wife to give him "highly confidential information" she learned about companies that were the targets of mergers or acquisitions, promising he would keep it to himself.

But Gallucci allegedly gave the information to Manzo, who in turn gave it to Taffet and two other unnamed people. Taffet then tipped off five other unnamed people, at least one of whom gave information to another two, according to the complaint. All told, the people Taffet tipped off made profits of $1.8 million, the SEC says.

Manzo's attorney, Lawrence S. Horn, said that his client "deeply regrets his actions. He is trying to put all of this before him and get on with his life." Michael Bachner, an attorney who represents Gallucci, said that his client has "no relationship" with Taffet. Galluci's wife was not named in either the SEC civil suit or the Justice Department criminal case.

Skadden, Arps cooperated with the probe and committed no wrongdoing, authorities said.

Taffet and Levinsohn earned at least $2.4 million each in billboard transactions during the three years before McGreevey took office. They secured rights for 20 highway signs around New Jersey - including 11 on public property - while they ran McGreevey's campaign.

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: A former top aide and political adviser to Governor McGreevey was charged with stock fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, in a suit claiming that he earned nearly $250,000 from tips about impending corporate acquisitions.

: Gary Taffet, McGreevey's former chief of staff, was also referred to as a "co-conspirator" in a parallel U.S. Justice Department criminal case against a business associate who allegedly tipped him to stocks.

: The associate, Ronald A. Manzo, who is the brother of state Assemblyman Louis Manzo, a Hudson County Democrat, pleaded guilty to criminal insider trading and perjury charges in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday.

: At the heart of the civil charges is the SEC's claim that Taffet's friendship and insurance business relationship with Manzo played a central role in the stock fraud.

: "Manzo knew that Taffet ... as a person with strong political ties to New Jersey, was in a position to assist his company ... in obtaining insurance business from local government entities in New Jersey," the SEC civil suit charged.

: The lawsuit also claims that Taffet passed on insider stock tips to five unnamed people, who later made more than $280,000 from securities trades. State Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Roberts, a Democrat from Camden County, released a statement Wednesday confirming that he had cooperated with the SEC and had provided information about securities that he had purchased.

: Roberts said in a statement that he had nothing to hide.

: "Over one year ago, the SEC asked me to provide information about securities I had previously purchased" he said. "I fully complied and provided information and voluntarily answered all questions in an effort to be as helpful as possible. There has never been a suggestion that I did anything inappropriate because quite simply I did not."

: McGreevey said little about his former chief of staff when asked about the complaint.

: "I would just note that I have no knowledge," the governor told reporters after signing a package of ethics reform measures at his official residence in Princeton.

: Asked if he knew who had allegedly gotten tips from Taffet, McGreevey said, "No. I have no knowledge."

: Taffet has not been charged with any crimes related to the stock trades. However, the SEC civil suit increases the federal pressure on Taffet at a time when the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark is probing a billboard business he ran with Paul Levinsohn, another former key McGreevey aide.

: The New Jersey prosecutors have been investigating whether Taffet and Levinsohn improperly used political connections to bring business to their billboard firm before McGreevey was sworn in as governor in January 2002. Both have denied wrongdoing in the matter.

: And last month, a Camden County businessman and Democratic Party donor who had other business dealings with Taffet pleaded guilty to federal charges, and was identified as wearing a concealed recording device or "wire" in an FBI probe.

: Taffet's lawyer, John B. Harris, said in a statement that his client denies having done anything wrong in relation to the stock trades.

: "The reality is that Mr. Taffet did not know or deal with any insider at the companies he traded, nor did he knowingly disclose non-public information to any third party," the statement said. As the case unfolds and the allegations in the civil complaint are tested, we believe the legal and factual underpinnings of the SEC's case against Mr. Taffet will be found to be paper-thin."

: Wednesday's SEC civil filing in a Manhattan federal court claims Taffet cashed in six times on large stock transactions immediately after news of impending corporate acquisitions became public.

: The tips came from Manzo, who ran a business that sold insurance to New Jersey municipalities, the lawsuit said. The SEC said Manzo made almost $1 million in insider profits.

: Manzo, 60, of Bayonne, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday to criminal insider trading and perjury charges. Manzo admitted that he lied to the SEC in a January 2003 interview when asked to whom he had passed stock tips.

: Manzo, and his company, RAM Insurance Agency, made $200,600 in contributions to mostly Democratic candidates and committees between 1997 and 2003, according to state Election Law Enforcement Commission records. Manzo and his companies also gave more than $18,000 to federal candidates between 1996 and 2004, federal election records show. Most of the contributions went to Democrats, but he also gave to several Republicans.

: In 1998 and 1999, Taffet used Manzo's inside information to buy stock in four companies that were on the verge of mergers or acquisitions that had yet to be announced, the suit alleges. When the mergers became public, the companies' stock prices went up and Taffet made more than $247,459, the complaint says.

: For example, Taffet bought stock in the television ratings company Nielsen Media Research before the Dutch information and media company VNU, represented by Skadden Arps, announced its purchase of Nielsen in August 1999, according to the complaint. It says he also bought stock in the insurance company Orion Capital Corp., which was also represented by Skadden Arps, before the announcement of its acquisition by the British firm Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group. Taffet allegedly made more than $100,000 from his stock in each of those companies.

: The complaint says Taffet's tipster, Manzo, got his information from "his close friend" Fiore J. Gallucci, a Staten Island bond salesman. Gallucci's wife was working as a secretary for the head of mergers and acquisitions at Skadden Arps, a prominent Manhattan law firm.

: The complaint says Gallucci persuaded his wife to give him "highly confidential information" she learned about companies that were the targets of mergers or acquisitions, promising he would keep it to himself.

: But Gallucci allegedly gave the information to Manzo, who in turn gave it to Taffet and two other unnamed people. Taffet then tipped off five other unnamed people, at least one of whom gave information to another two, according to the complaint. All told, the people Taffet tipped off made profits of $1.8 million, the SEC says.

: Manzo's attorney, Lawrence S. Horn, said that his client "deeply regrets his actions. He is trying to put all of this before him and get on with his life." Michael Bachner, an attorney who represents Gallucci, said that his client has "no relationship" with Taffet. Galluci's wife was not named in either the SEC civil suit or the Justice Department criminal case.

: Skadden, Arps cooperated with the probe and committed no wrongdoing, authorities said.

: Taffet and Levinsohn earned at least $2.4 million each in billboard transactions during the three years before McGreevey took office. They secured rights for 20 highway signs around New Jersey - including 11 on public property - while they ran McGreevey's campaign.
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